Incredible Journeys

8/2/2019 Incredible Journeys

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ave you ever wished, in the middle of a blizzard

in February, that you could move somewhere

warmer for winter to escape the snow and ice?

Many animals across Canada are starting to do just that

they prepare for their annual migrations.

Animals migrate for many reasons: to avoid bad

eather, to find food or to reproduce. Some, like garter

akes, may only migrate a few metres from their sum-

er grounds to their winter grounds. Others, like the

rctic tern, go around the world in their search for food

nd better weather. Read on to learn about some of

anadas wildest journeys.

Caribou

As winter approaches, many Canadian species prepare

or their annual migrations. You wont believe justhow far some of them will go to escape the winter

tory by Natalie Gillis Photographs by Wayne Lynch

INCILJNYS

AN-GNCAIAbout 1.2 million barren-ground

caribou spend the summer on the

treeless tundra across Canadas north,

from Alaska to Baffin Island. They

make one of the most spectacular

animal migrations in North America,

travelling in herds of hundreds of

thousands of animals, for up to 1,500

kilometres each way.In summer, the caribou feed on

tundra grasses and seeds, storing

up fat for winter. After the autumn

mating season, they migrate to the

taiga the thin coniferous forests

just south of the tundra. There they

take shelter in the forest and survive

on lichens, their main winter food,

which they find under the snow

using their excellent sense of smell.

During the winter, males and

females stay in separate herds. As

spring arrives, the herds recombine

and make their way hundreds of

kilometres back across the tundra to

the calving grounds, where the cari-

bou calves will be born. Pregnant

cows lead the way.

Barren-ground caribou are the

most efficient walkers of all ungulates(members of the deer family) in

North America. They can even keep

a steady direction across large frozen

lakes. Some barren-ground caribou

migrate more than 300 kilometres

across sea ice between mainland

Canada and Victoria Island in the

Arctic Ocean.

Quickfact

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The North American caribou is thesame species as the European reindeer


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MNACLYMonarch butterflies make one

of the longest insect migrations

on Earth. Each autumn, they travel

up to 4,000 kilometres, one-way,

from Canada to wintering grounds

in Mexico or southern California.

Its a dangerous journey that takes

up to two and a half months.

There are two populations of

monarchs in North America, and

they migrate separately. All monarchs

east of the Rocky Mountains make

their way to Mexico in early August.

Monarchs west of the Rockies head

to the pine forests and eucalyptus

groves along the coast of California.

The butterflies spend the winter tight-

ly bunched together, hanging from

tree branches. There are so many of

them that the branches sometimes

bend and break from their weight.

Monarchs begin their return trip

to Canada in the spring, laying eggs

on milkweeds along the way. Most

of the monarchs that arrive in Canada

in late May and early June are the

children or grandchildren of the but-

terflies that left the year before.

AACk SA Lhe leatherback sea turtle is the biggest sea turtle in the world, growing

more than two metres long. Adult leatherbacks can weigh as much as 900

lograms. They are impressive swimmers, too: an adult leatherback can swim

p to nine kilometres per hour and cover 95 kilometres in a single day. They

n also dive deeper than 1,200 metres more than a whole kilometre.

Because leatherbacks migrate across entire oceans, they are found in morearts of the world than any other reptile. Their range spans the tropical,

mperate and boreal waters of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans, as well

the Mediterranean Sea. In Canada, the leatherback can be found off both

e Atlantic and Pacific coasts.

Male leatherbacks never return to land after hatching. Females come ashore

nly to lay eggs once every few years. These turtles spend their entire lives at

a making incredible migrations of thousands of kilometres each year. They

wim back and forth between the warm waters off their tropical nesting beach-

and the cooler Canadian waters where they feed on jellyfish, their main

ey. Because these turtles are always at sea, we are only starting to learn

out the routes they take to get from one part of an ocean to another.

Quickfact

To lay their eggs,female leather-backs return tothe beach wherethey themselveswere hatched.

eatherback sea turtle

Wintering Monarchs

MIGAIN SChec out some amazingnatural journeys

arren-ground Caribou

Soceye Salmon

Monarch utterfly

Leatherbac Sea urtle

Arctic ern

DaviDWysotski


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ACIC NThe Arctic tern is the world cham-

pion of migration. This bird travels

farther than any other animal, from

the Arctic to Antarctica and back

every year. Thats a round-trip jour-

ney of 40,000 kilometres roughly

the circumference of the Earth.

The Arctic tern spends most of

its time over the ocean. It rarely stops

flying, even to feed. It weighs only

about 100 grams but has a wingspan

of 65 to 75 centimetres, giving it one

of the widest wingspans of all birds

compared to its weight. This makes

the Arctic tern well equipped for

long-distance flight.

The Arctic tern breeds acrossCanadas Arctic during the summer.

When the chicks are about three

weeks old, the terns head across the

Atlantic to Europe, where they follow

the coast south to their wintering

grounds on the edge of the Antarctic

pack-ice. Because the north and south

poles have opposite seasons, terns can

leave the Arctic before winter and

arrive in the Antarctic region in timefor the southern summer.

SCkY SALMNEvery year in July and August, sockeye salmon leave the Pacific Ocean and

make their way hundreds of kilometres up coastal rivers in Canada to reach

the gravel beds of their spawning grounds. Sockeye salmon can swim up

to 55 kilometres a day and return to the exact stretch of gravel they were

spawned in. They also change colour during the journey, turning from silverto bright red with a green head.

After spawning, the adult sockeye die. Their offspring, called fry, emerge

in the spring and stay in their freshwater nurseries for at least a year before

they head to the Pacific Ocean. As they migrate, their colours change. They

lose the vertical bars that camouflage them in inland waters and become

silver with black speckles. Their gills and kidneys also change to be able to

handle salt water.

The salmon spend two or three years maturing in the ocean, travelling more

than 4,000 kilometres west of the British Columbia coast. Once theyre

mature, they head back to the coast to begin their final migration to their

spawning grounds.

Quickfacts

Arctic terns often fly at altitudes of morethan 1,500 metres, where high winds helpcarry them on their way.

Because they travel between the Arctic andAntarctic summers, Arctic terns see moredaylight than any other animal on Earth.

Arctic terns

sockeye salmon

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